Embroidered covers for folders

In the personal Library of Stitches class students are discussing creating their own covers for the lessons and I thought I would post images of two folders I have covered in samplers.

Even thought both have beads on them they have not lost any which I find surprising as I used to hold teaching samples in them and they were carted about quite a bit.

Both were samplers that took on a life of their own. I liked them so I pieced them together and made a cover for an A4 ring binder. I have found over the years that the 3 ring and 4 ring binders stand up to more wear and tear and can hold more weight than a two ring binder. Samples inside the folder are simply stored in plastic sheets.

These were made 13 years ago and have stood up to quite a bit of wear and tear.

Kerri I just paint them with dye – I use procion dyes. With these on the folder with the blue frame the bottom is hand painted aida and the top is a mono print – I pulled apart a floppy disk glued it to some cardboard and when it was dry I inked it up with a roller then lay the fabric on top – the dye was mixed with manutex to so it had the consistancy of glueWith the other one the main area on the right is also a mono print only using bits of card board – as the plate once again I glued bits of card on to heavier card and then inked it up and took a printThe area on the left is just painted – all of them were scraps of teaching samples as I used to teach this method –If I can find the old photos etc I will put them online –None of oit is hard to do you just have to jump in and try it out – if it makes a mess its still an interesting background to stitch

Sharon… I love the way you paint your backgrounds and then stitch on top of them, enhancing the painted design. Do you have any educational resources for how to do the painting, or instructions for how you do it, including the embellishment?